Markets
In the two days after the US elections last Tuesday, Wall Street fell sharply and the Dow lost more than 900 points, or more than 9%, as investors started adjusting to the coming recession.
In the two days after the US elections last Tuesday, Wall Street fell sharply and the Dow lost more than 900 points, or more than 9%, as investors started adjusting to the coming recession.
The tough times for the Australian media continue.
Overnight US stocks plummeted for a second day with a 4.85% drop as global markets plunged on fears of a deep worldwide recession. Yesterday the 150 basis points interest rate cut of Britain also surprised the market. Economists and analysts questioned the need for such a big cut and believe the economy must be in seriously risk with more dangers ahead. Investors ignored big interest rate cuts in Europe to send markets into steep falls overnight. The key Asian indicators also dropped more than 6.5 percent and wiping out much of the previous rally that had preceded the presidential election in the United States.
George W Bush's legacy for investors is seen in the above graph: a 40% drop in the US share market from 2000 to this week, as shown by the key indicator, the Standard & Poor's 500, and a 30% drop in the value of the US dollar in the same time.
News Corp's share price was hammered by unhappy investors yesterday as the shares suffered their biggest one day fall in 17 years after Rupert Murdoch sprung a surprise earnings downgrade on the market in a teleconference.
Amid the continuing flow of earnings downgrades (News Corp) and corporate failures (Allco and ABC Learning) we have had some moments of optimism.
The credit freeze has hurt Australia, some companies are laying off people, downgrading earnings and in retailing some are reporting falling sales.